I was a bit concerned about sitting the exam last week because there was a booklet full of rules and regulations sent before it. At least they make it easy for you to know if you have been disqualified. The football system of red and yellow cards is used which is probably much easier than trying to understand the Japanese and makes it easier for those adjudicating the exam. Everyone in my exam room behaved impeccably. No cards were handed out as everyone sat in silence, no phones went off, booklets were opened at the correct time, everyone stopped writing when they were told to and no one ate or drank.

I am used to eating during an exam and found it strange that I couldn’t have anything to chew on. There isn’t a lot of time during the exam so in the end I didn’t miss having a packet of sweets but I would have liked to have had a bottle of water as I did start to feel uncomfortable during the longer grammar and reading test.

There is a lot of sitting around as the instructions are played via CD very slowly before each test. And everything has to be checked and double-checked. Even at the end of each test you have to sit for around 10 minutes whilst the adjudicators count the number of mark sheets and test booklets, as these are not allowed to be removed from the room by those taking the test. I assume all the additional time at the start is there to make sure they have enough time to fix a problem if something goes wrong.

There was only one problem during the test. After the starting instructions for the grammar test one of the adjudicators forgot to switch off the CD player and he accidentally played the track telling us that we only had five minutes left. As it happened so early in the exam it just made everyone laugh and the exam continued.

Marty and I had the most amazing food for dinner tonight. It was probably the most expensive meal we have had since we arrived in Japan but it may be the best meal I have ever eaten. I won’t do it justice trying to describe it here but each dish, and there were eight of them, was a work of art. We didn’t have any choices to make as we selected the Christmas menu that the chef had put together.

We had three starters: one containing Parma ham, French bread and smoked turkey; the second with abalone and calamari; and the third with caramelised foie gras and apple. The first main course contained lobster and Mibai fish in a seaweed and turmeric sauce. The second had melt in the mouth steak with a port and truffle sauce. The first dessert was a jasmine flavoured crème brûlée and the second was a miniature chocolate pudding with sea salt ice cream. All were amazing even if they sounded a bit strange when I saw them on the menu. They also served tea and coffee, freshly baked bread and champagne.

After writing all that I have just realised that I haven’t mentioned where we ate. We had dinner at the Anvil House Restaurant at the Renaissance Okinawa Resort.

I don’t mean to keep going on about this exam (great, now I am starting my blog posts with an apology) but last night I discovered the past marking scheme. I am utterly horrified that some questions are worth 8 times as many marks as others. So, in the test I did last night, the kanji I have spent hours learning are only worth about 60 out of 400 possible marks. And the questions that are worth the most marks are on the areas of the course that I haven’t been taught yet. Have I mentioned yet that I hate to fail?

The only good thing is that I now know not to divide my time equally between each question.